On Wednesday, the girls went ultra-shopping at Meadowhall, so I took the chance to get some training in and had a great day out in the Yorkshire Dales. This is an area I'm only just beginning to explore - Jenny and I had a lovely weekend at Boulton Abbey in November. Left at 6 on the way to Horton-in-Ribbledale. Unfortunately discovered that he heating in my car had broken (again!!) - it has no temperature control and is on max all the time. This would be tolerable in a cold winter but on a late December morning of 10C, I had to drive with the windows open!
Off I set, climbing Pen-y-Ghent via Brackenbottom with very strong winds on the top and particularly on the way down via the Pennine Way. Lap of 6 miles in 1 hour 9 minutes, with 450m ascent.
I had now formulated my plan - to do laps of Pen-y-Ghent, so after a quick Powerbar gel it was back on up again!
On the third lap, I met some fell runners out training for the Three Peaks in April. Had a good natter with them on the way up.
The wind was now becoming ferocious and you could hear it howling over the summit from lower down. This culminated when I was actually blown over near the top, landing heavily on a rock and sustaining a decent graze on my arm. Bloody hurt! And ripped my gloves too!! Had a quick lunch on top, then back down leaning heavily into the wind to avoid being blown across the hill - brilliant!
In all I did 4 laps of Pen-y-Ghent, for a total of 24 miles and 1900m ascent, with all laps pretty much in the same time. felt really strong and could have done more but the light was fading and the wind had got stronger and stronger all day.
Really happy with my new gear - Montane Powerstretch pants/leggings amazingly comfortable and absolutely loving my new Inov8 Race Pak 32 rucksack.
Finished a great day out with a superb hot chocolate at the Pen-y-Ghent cafe.
2 comments:
Good discipline that Rich! well done, what shoes do you choose? I've just changed a great old pair of Brooks Cascadia 4`s (good for trails) for Mizuno Ascend 6 ... seem great so far.
Thanks Mike - I discovered a pair of Montrail Badrock OutDry on sale at Outside in Hathersage recently. Using these for the rockier stuff and finding them very good. Brooks Adrenaline ASR's for trails and paths - got to be the most comfortable pair of shoes ever!
Post a Comment